But....what brought me back to this site? I've decided to track my genealogy back with all of the information I have on each generation. I start with my grandfather.....Lemmie Sylvanis MASON and will eventually go back a generation at a time with the information I have on each. Why? I want it preserved with what I have. I'll start with the MASON line.....my maiden last name. What a fun family the Masons are!!!! I did not always live around any of my extended family as we moved often growing up. If any of them lived in the same place with us it was from the Masons. The Masons are an oilfield bunch so moving is not unusual.. Let's go......
LEMMIE SYLVANIS MASON
Lemmie Sylvanis Mason was born September 11, 1907 in Rush Springs, Oklahoma to Lennie Gertrude Wolford (her older brother's name was Lemmie) and Marion Francis Mason (his father's name was Sylvanis). Lemmie had three brothers....Elmer, Enock and Marion Hershel and a sister Frances. Lemmie's father, Marion, was a pastor. When Lemmie was two his family moved to Pea Ridge, Oklahoma. It shows on the 1910 census the family is in Cobb, Oklahoma then in 1920 back in Rush Springs and 1930 again in Rush Springs, Oklahoma.
In 1928, at the age of 21, Lemmie began his oilfield career Roughnecking in the Cox Coly Fields. He spent the next 17 years in Seminole, Oklahoma, East Texas and the Permian Basin, pursuing the oil industry. According to a magazine article from the Reading and Bates Drilling Lemmie went to work for Reading and Bates in 1938 at Penwell, Texas as a Roughneck and from that time on there was a Mason working in the oil field for Reading and Bates. He started Drilling in 1944 and was a Toolpusher by 1949. He Pushed Tools in Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, and Mississippi, even going to Venezuela. Lemmie was a part of the biggest booms of the 1920s and knew by the time he joined Reading and Bates it was going to be “kinda my way of life”, he stated. So for 31 years, until he retired in 1969 he worked for Reading and Bates.
Lemmie married Clara Zadie McKay (we can track the McKays back to Clara's great grandfather from Ireland) on May 16, 1932 in Duncan, Oklahoma. He was 25 years old. They had four children.....Clifton (born 1934), Benny (born 1935), Barbara (born 1936) and Jodie (born 1941). The family was on the move with the oilfield life.
Upon retirement in 1969 (age 62) after a hurricane destroyed their home in South Louisiana Lemmie and Clara settled in Konawa, Oklahoma near their daughter Barbara. Lemmie spent his years raising a garden (5 gardens his grandson, Terry, said) and helping with cattle. Many wonderful memories are had by the grandchildren of domino and card games around the table. The food and fun was plenty at Nanny and Papa's home. Wow, the Mason laugh is full and some of the best!!
Lemmie's father died in 1942 when Lemmie was only 34. His mother, Lennie, died in 1976 when Lemmie was 68. He lost his wife, Clara, of 48 years when he was 72 in 1980. Nearly 5 years later he eloped to Las Vegas and married someone he had dated in high school, Ethyl Dorman, of Rush Springs, Oklahoma. Unfortunately the marriage only lasted 5 months as Lemmie Mason passed away October 8, 1985 in Rush Springs, Oklahoma. He was walking down the sidewalk to the house and fell over with a heart attack. He was 78. He was buried with Clara in the Vamoosa Cemetery. He left this earth leaving behind 4 children, 11 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
At Papa's funeral they read a poem he particularly loved:
SERMONS WE SEE
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day,
I'd rather one should walk with me than merely show the way.
The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear;
Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear;
And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds,
For to see the good in action is what everybody needs.
I can soon learn how to do it if you'll let me see it done.
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lectures you deliver may be very wise and true;
But I'd rather get my lesson by observing what you do.
For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give.
But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.
by Edgar A. Guest
Taken from an article in the Reading and Bates RB World Magazine in 1980:
When still a young man, Lemmie Sylvanus Mason was nicknamed "Pappy". Now, as the eldest member of a world-wide clan of oil patch people, he has earned the title. Since 1938, when Pappy began roughnecking for George Reading and Jack Bates Sr., there has always been a Mason on the RB payroll. Sometimes there have been as many as five at one time. Never, since 1946, have there been fewer than two. Before continuing, you will need a scorecard. It should read like this: Three brothers: Pappy, Elmer and Hershel, Pappy's sons: Benny M., Jody Don and Clifton. Elmer's son Ronnie. Hershel's sons: Bearl, Troy and David. And now, representing the third generation, Benny M's son, Benny W. Okay? And a few more things you need to know: All of them have, at one time or another, worked for Reading & Bates. Presently on the payroll are Hershel, Benny W., Bearl and David. This said, we can now get down to some details. Elmer, two years Pappy's junior, was the first Mason with RB but he remained only on a part-time basis, preferring the pulpit to petroleum. Pappy, who had already been a part of some of the biggest booms of the 1920's knew by the time he joined the company that the oil fields were "kinda my way of life". So he stayed and for the next 31 years, until he retired in 1969, he helped build both the present Reading & Bates and its predecessor. In doing so, he drilled holes and pushed tools through Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and even Venezuela, on one of the earliest foreign land assignments of today's Reading & Bates. In 1946, Pappy was joined in the company by the "baby" of the three brothers: Hershel. Just out of the Navy, Hershel began by working for Pappy and for a time the three brothers were all on the same rig near Levelland, Texas. While this was going on, another generation of Mason males were growing up. They were being groomed, some in strange ways, to take their places one day in the oil patch. The Mason boys found working for a father - if his name was Mason - meant working for a tough, fair, boss. Pappy worked on land rigs throughout the U.S. and Venezuela. The preceding lists only the direct line of Mason men who have worked for Reading & Bates. It does not include M. F. Mason, the father of Pappy, Elmer and Hershel. Although a preacher and farmer, he also worked in the oil fields, as did three of his wife's six brothers. The list does not include the husbands of the Mason women. The three Mason brothers have a total of six daughters. Why so many of one family should go into the oil business is something the Masons have not thought much about. But when the question is put to them, they come up with some interesting theories: "Oil is all the Mason family knows." "The oil field is like the weather: It's always interesting. It's always changing. There's always a new challenge." And what does it mean to have the name "Mason"? "When you have relations in a company, I think people expect more of you than they do other people." "We have an unwritten law among the Mason family that if you work for another Mason, you do more work than the rest of the crew or you're fired." "You always have to prove yourself, no matter what your name is. Your name is only as good as you, as an individual, make it."
1997 finds the following Mason men still working in the oil business: Benny Marion (consultant), Benny Wayne (well control instructor for R&B), Clifton Michael (engineer), Troy (engineer), David (works on rig for R&B) Mason and Terry Lee Bowles-son of Barbara Mason (daughter of Pappy Mason) works on rigs. Pappy, Hershel, Clifton Wyndel, Jody Don, and Bearl have gone on to be with the Lord but are probably talking drilling in heaven right now.
Memories:
The Masons to me have always been larger than life. When I would visit them there was more often than not lots of hugs and laughter. They always made you feel loved and at home. I have wonderful memories of the adults laughing and often playing dominoes laughing and carrying on. From my perspective Lemmie Mason, my Papa, was the perfect grandfather. I don't ever remember him correcting me but I remember lots of hugs and pounding on the back. He often pounded me on the back when my children were babies and would say over and over “that little bitty mama with those great big babies”. My mom told the story of when my brother and I were young Papa showed up at the house wanting to take us out. Mom said let me clean them up but he said we were fine. When we returned a couple of hours later he had taken us and bought us new clothes and had my brother's hair cut (his first haircut). Papa had got us an ice cream cone an it was all over our new clothes ….oh and he had taken us for a boat ride. We had a picture of us in a boat with Papa and I guess that spurred her memory.
My dad told the story with lots of laughter that one time Papa had a cow he wanted to load and take to the butcher. Let's just say that cow gave him a lot of problems getting it loaded. By the time Papa got it loaded and to the butcher he told the guy “give that cow a slow death” and he meant it. Ha!
I can't remember ever going to church with Nanny or Papa but I knew without a doubt they loved the Lord. Nanny loved to sing “One Day At A Time Sweet Jesus” as she worked around the house. She was such a great cook! Papa was raised in church since his dad was a preacher so I guess maybe that was enough for him?
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